Are You Truly Free?
We were founded as a nation to provide liberty and justice for all. Well, we have certainly been a tad off on the justice part at times, but are we still in a land of liberty? We have one of the best documents in the world proclaiming and detailing our liberty. However, we have been trying for the last four decades to rip the heart out of country’s liberty. We fought the Kaiser, Hitler, and the Commies to maintain the liberty given to us by our founders, but we may lose it to the internal enemies. Who are these enemies? Those who would take God out of the phrase for God and country seek to enslave this great land.
Many have either not read the writings of our forefathers or they choose to ignore them. Some do far worse and rip phrases out of context and try to rewrite their thoughts and the history of this land. When I was sworn into the military, I was required to swear to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic. Well, I served from Viet Nam until after Desert Storm and no foreign enemies’ armies have done the Constitution or my country harm, but the domestic ones have a choke hold on us and have drugged us into nearly total apathetic unconsciousness. If we succumb and slide into a full coma we shall surely die.
2 Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (KJV)
Our founders knew where the source of real liberty lay. Their documents are filled with Scripture and references to Jesus Christ. They prayed for all their meetings and pleaded with God to be involved in their proceedings. We still have paid chaplains that do the praying for the bodies who would legislate God out of their business and out of our life. We lost a lot when they threw God out of the classroom. Now, He and His law are unwelcome in courtrooms. Our schools have become battle zones. With God out of the courts, they will become tribunals run by demagogues. It will be Rex Lex and not Lex Rex. When He is out of the legislatures we will have tyranny and I will not apologize to Ted Kennedy for saying that. When the Spirit of the Lord goes liberty goes with Him.
Next July 4th, I wonder if God will be completely ostracized from the country that was founded upon His Word, His law, and His Son and has been protected by His Spirit. We pledge to a flag that says we are "one nation under God" and our motto is "In God We Trust", but neither are true. We pay lip service but like the Hebrews in Isaiah 1, we are far from Him in our hearts. I once saw a bumper sticker that said, "God, guns and guts made this country great." I know that God made us great and often we had to use guns and guts, but they would not have worked without God. (Psalm 20:7; 118:8) I would say that in our day, a more accurate sticker might say that the Godless, gunless, and gutless are taking us to Hell’s grate.
Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; (KJV)
Christ came to proclaim liberty to the captives. He came to set people free, but some have missed that message even among His Church and would enslave people in legalism. (Col. 3:20-23) Others preach falsely that license is liberty. (2 Peter 2:19) That is why Christ said that if you knew the truth you would be free indeed.
There can be no national liberty until there is liberty in the hearts of a nation’s people. What we see going on in our government and our schools is the result of the loss of liberty in the hearts of the citizenry. When the people who chose to be called by His name turned away from Him bondage was the only end for them.
We are a very religious people but we are not in spiritual liberty because we have chosen ritual over reality and pseudo scholasticism over powerful faith. We trust in our heritage but we have not participated in the faith of our fathers. We paint their old homes and adorn their tombs while we extirpate the very life that was in their souls from our hearts. That life was their faith in Jesus Christ and they gave us this land to fan the fires of that faith not to extinguish it through liberal, leftist, rhetoric.
Ps 119:45 And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts. (KJV)
They were free and saw a land of liberty arise as the fruit of their seeking His precepts. It was a personal thing to them that inspired them and permeated every aspect of their life including their laws and government. Even we who name His name and attend the houses they worshiped in no longer seek His precepts. We are as worldly and carnal as any unbelieving person is. We are not free because we are still tied to the same lusts as the world and we are not thirsty for the living water so neither do the lost thirst for it. The old saying was that he who lived by the sword shall die by the sword. We have lived by the flesh and we shall die by the flesh. We are enslaved spiritually and one day we will be enslaved physically if we do not repent and seek revival.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (KJV)
If you are reading this and are an unbeliever, your only true hope of freedom lies in receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to make you free indeed through His sacrifice on the Cross. No longer remain in your bondage to sin. Let Him make you a child of God and free indeed! Let this be your Independence Day!
Believer, you need to seek to renew the life of liberty in your walk. You need the restoration of the joy of your salvation and to be upheld by His free spirit! (Psalm 51:12) You know 1 John 1:9 by heart. Many have known it since childhood. You must seek the filling of the Spirit and quit trying to hide your sin from God. Adam and Eve could not hide so why do you think that you can?
Don’t look for feelings or miraculous manifestations. Ask, believe and receive. Most drunks do not know they are drunk. They will tell you they are fine and do not see or feel the effects of the alcohol on them like the people who are standing next to them do. They do not hear the slur in their speech and some do not notice they are staggering.
When you are controlled by the Holy Spirit you may not notice the change in your speech or actions or feelings but those around you will. D. L. Moody became filled after 15 years of ministry. He said that he preached the same sermons. The only thing different was the results. People were saved and bought back into the fold. There was power. Freedom in the Spirit brings power. Trying to be free without Him only brings defeat and bondage.
When the Church walks again in the liberty that comes from the cleansing and filling of the Holy Spirit, they shall teach transgressors God’s way and sinners will be converted unto Him. When such liberty returns to the citizenry it will return to the country and the country will experience the peace and joy of righteousness. It shall be exalted in the earth and nations will again look to America as the land of the free. Her enemies will be at peace with her and her people blessed!!!
Lev 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. (KJV)
Let’s not wait for a fiftieth year. Declare this year a year of jubilee. Church return to a life of liberty! Unbelieving friend, find true liberty in Christ!! Let us proclaim liberty throughout all the land! Let each man, woman and child return to their home and family a person free at last!!!!! Then will America be truly free!
